Random Thoughts on the Bessler Wheel

[Sean]

Hi :-)

I'm very new to Bessler's story. I'm in the process of reading Collins' ebook, Perpetual Motion: An Ancient Mystery Solved?. I had some thoughts on the subject, and thought I would share them :-).

I find Leibniz's letters to be the most rewarding, concerning the credibility of the machine. These letters seemed like intelligent guys, trying to figure out the wheel. I like Leibniz's logic, "If your Orffyreus' machine contains a strong internal force that can last for several hours or even days, I cannot see any other possibility than that compressed air is inside it. ... If one excludes animals, water, wind, remote weights, a servant rotating it from inside, which isn't suitable for lengthy operations - it seem to me that only air remains." (Collins' ebook, page 51).

His logic was also good in comments like, "Even if this device is not a perpetual motion machine, about which there is so much talk at the present time, it would be still of great use if it could pass this test of several weeks." (page 53). To me, this shows open-mindedness, and skepticism at the same time, which is an intelligent reaction. It's hard to trust Orffyreus, because he's very biased. However, reading something like this from a third party is very revealing to what was happening.

I think Collins did a good job showing that - technically - the wheel might not have been perpetual if it relies on the external force of gravity. I had never thought of it like that, and I never thought of comparing a perpetual wheel to a windmill. It's interesting to think about.

It doesn't look like Orffyreus was a fraud. He might have made something that he mistakenly identified as perpetual - but I don't think he purposely deceived his audience.

On to the design of the wheel...

The wheel sounds mechanical in nature. I don't think he used magnets, chemicals, or anything like that. I also don't think he used gears or anything complicated. Collins wrote, "Orffyreus, himself says that perpetual motionists have a tendency to add more and more gears, levels, and weights until the whole thing is jammed solid." (page 178). I wonder where Collins is getting this quote from.

The machine has to also be capable of going in both directions. This is a strange requirement... In a lot of designs I've seen floating around, the wheel can only move in one direction. Having it move in both directions seems like quite the challenge. There has to be some symmetry to the design to accomplish that.

And lastly, Karl said the machine was very simple, and it wouldn't be hard for a "carpenter's boy" to make one.

Interesting stuff.

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I was also thinking about the best way to go about designing the wheel. In my last post, I made an animation using a physics simulation program. I think using a physics simulation program is probably a bad idea... because it's working with our current understanding of physics and gravity, which could be wrong.

I think the best way to go about it would be to build actual devices, and test them in the real world. Since they all use a wheel design, I think the most logical way to go about it would be to make a wheel capable of putting different configurations on the inside. That way you could test a lot of different designs without having to construct new wheels each time.

I would make it sort of like legos, where the wheel's back would be a board with lots of holes in it, where you could "plug in" different internal devices. And the front of the wheel would be a removeable plexy-glass covering, so you could see what was happening on the inside. (Picture attached).

Just some random thoughts. Comments welcome :-).

~Sean

[graham]

I'm very new to Bessler's story. I'm in the process of reading Collins' ebook, Perpetual Motion: An Ancient Mystery Solved?. I had some thoughts on the subject, and thought I would share them :-).

Prepare yourself to be "hooked for life" if you believe that Bessler really did succeed where all others have so far failed.
And you're right, Johns book is the ultimate source for information on this subject.
If you need to get even more information then you should also get a copy of Johns translations of Besslers own publications, "Apologia Poetica" and "Das Triumphans"

Your Lego idea is ok but may not give you the flexibility to properly test all of your ideas.

Good luck

Graham

[rlortie]

Welcome to the forum Sean!


The thought has cross my mind a number of times but I have never tried it.

48 X 96" sheets of tempered drilled hardboard, more commonly known as peg board. One could lay out the center hole in each half and make two almost 48" diameter disks. The holes would be symmetrical in all directions including the radius. Some stores sell this in 2 and 4' increments, so if you cannot transport a full sheet, shop around.

One could then run bolts with backer washers through this for a multitude of lay outs.

Ralph

[Flywheel]

I'm also working on a wheel (only about 27 inches in diameter, small budget) and it looks simliar to yours, except I didn't use a peg b oard, which seems like a really good idea and I wish i did that before I bought all the materials and cutted everything, I'll post picture of my wheel later, I should be able to finish it this weekend.